Did you say you always wanted to know more about Paul Myers of X-Stream. Well, then, here you go. Jeff
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THE GUARDIAN: E50: FORTUNEHUNTERS: THE DJ: THEIR AVERAGE AGE IS JUST 34 AND MOST HAVE BECOME MILLIONAIRES IN LITTLE OVER TWO YEARS. THEIR BACKGROUNDS RANGE FROM THE MUSIC INDUSTRY TO SCIENCE TO THE CITY, AND THEIR BUSINESSES FROM SPORT TO FINANCIAL SERVICES. IN PART TW
83% match; The Guardian - United Kingdom ; 05-Oct-1999 02:42:51 pm ; 439 words
Paul Myers left school in Dagenham, Essex at 16 to become a DJ in Marbella, Spain. Two years later he was taken on by Peter Stringfellow as the resident DJ at London's Hippodrome nightclub. A career in the music industry beckoned when at 28 he produced his first platinum album, Boomania by Betty Boo.
But while working on new ways to promote bands and albums he stumbled across the internet. 'It was 1995 and the net was so disappointing then,' Myers, now 32, says. 'It was just a grey screen with lots of text and it took forever to find anything. It was only when I found out that millions of people used the thing that I realised the selling possibility it presented. Why weren't Coca-Cola showing their logo while internet users were waiting for their search engine?'
With a few like-minded friends Myers set up GOD, which he says was the first UK web directory service. They also started designing web pages for companies including Capital Radio, Virgin and Camelot. But 'we had about 1,600 subscribers and the whole thing was making about two quid a week. I met this guy from Canada, Chris Sekornyk, who offered to buy our modems off us. I asked him why and he said wanted to set up an ISP [internet service provider] in Canada. We got chatting, worked out it could work here too and then realised that if we made money from phone calls and advertising we could offer the service free.' On March 9 1998 The X-Stream Network became Britain's first free ISP. Myers says it has 450,000 customers in the UK and it has recently reached Norway and Sweden.
Freeserve, Dixons' free internet service, has overtaken X-Stream in subscriber numbers, but Myers still controls a substantial business. He won't say how much of X-Stream he owns, only that the whole business is worth 'hundreds of millions'.
Myers says the scene has changed dramatically since 1995. 'When I started out only programmers used the net, but everyone is getting into it for the money now.'
He plans to enjoy the ride he is awaiting delivery of a new Jaguar XK8. And his ambition? 'To win the British F1 Grand Prix and then marry Kelly Brook on my own private James Bond-style island.' His immediate focus is developing X-Stream's Scandinavian business. 'After that, no one's quite sure. That's the beauty of this thing.'
www. x-stream.com
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